Demolition work will get underway at the old Lambton Generating Station this week when auxiliary buildings start to come down.
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) announced the first phase of demolition was awarded to Stouffville-based JMX Contracting Inc.
St. Clair Township Mayor Steve Arnold said the municipality hopes to turn the space into a greenfield site.
"When you look at our municipality, and all municipalities that have waterfront property, it's worth anywhere from $5,000 per foot and up," he said. "That site being 1,000 to 1,500 feet along the St. Clair River, what is that site actually worth? When you think of that, why not make it back so we can either do residential condominiums or other mixed uses."
OPG will retain ownership of the property after demolition, so it's still not clear what the site will be used for.
Arnold the ideal situation would've been for the site to remain open.
"It's a frustrating piece for us thinking that it's been all these years, and the amount of jobs and work that went into that site for people, and how it would be far beneficial for security of power supply to still have it operating," he said.
OPG officials have promised to meet with the township on a quarterly basis to provide updates.
The entire project should wrap up in spring 2021 with the entire clean up and environmental remediation costing about $60 million.